Built in the 1960s by former Gov. Edmund “Pat” Brown, Jerry Brown’s father, Oroville reservoir holds 3.5 million acre feet when full — enough water for about 18 million people a year. The massive reservoir in Butte County captures water from the Feather River watershed. Its dam is the tallest in the United States. At 770 feet, it towers more than 200 feet higher than the Washington Monument...The Mercury News' "juxtapose" illustration shows the change in Oroville's water level between September, 2021 (22% full) and January, 2023 (65% full). Just drag the bar up and down with the cursor.
Over the past 20 years, Oroville has filled to the top seven times: 2003, 2005, 2006, 2011, 2012, 2017 and 2019. It is currently holding 2.3 million acre feet of water.
As noted above Oroville "filled to the top" in 2017 and 2019. In 2017 the snowmelt was so plentiful that the dam almost collapsed. Yet in 2021 the water was so low that "for the first time since it opened in 1967, its power plant had shut down."
Years alternate between extreme drought and heavy rains, as they have throughout California's recorded history. One of these decades I hope that we'll get leaders who will invest in water infrastructure instead of chasing windmill dreams.
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